Opinion Editorials, March 2016

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• Hadith of the Day: Love Each Other
  
  The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Shake hands and rancor will disappear. Give presents to each other and love each other, and enmity will disappear." Al-Muwatta
  
  The Prophet also said: "There is a (place) in paradise. . .prepared for those who are polite in their speech, provide food (to the needy), fast frequently, and (pray) when (other) people are asleep." Al-Tirmidhi
• CAIR: Trump is Getting Out the Muslim Vote (Religion News Service)
  
  "There's a lot in the balance this election cycle for American Muslims, not just the general issues around the economy and health care," said Imam Dawud Walid, who heads CAIR's Michigan chapter and has spoken at local Islamic centers about this election's importance.
  
  "We're urging people to exercise their right to vote in particular if they don't want to see a president who is making statements that Muslims aren't welcome in the U.S."
• Video: CAIR News Conference Calling on Donald Trump to Apologize for 'Islam Hates Us' Claim
  
  • Video: CAIR-FL Slams Gov. Rick Scott for Dodging Question on Islam
  • Video: MSNBC Takes CAIR News Conference on Donald Trump's 'Islam Hates Us' Claim Live
  • Video: Telemundo Covers CAIR News Conference Demanding Apology from Donald Trump
  • Republicans are Mostly Okay with Donald Trump's Anti-Muslim Rhetoric
  • The Sad Irony of the GOP's Embrace of Islamophobia: Muslim Americans Used to Be Republicans
• Audio: Not All Republicans Feel the Way Donald Trump Does (CAIR)
  
• CAIR: As Anti-Islam Tone Rises in U.S., Muslim Women Learn Self-Defense (Reuters)
  
  Muslim advocacy groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) say anti-Muslim bias crimes in the United States have tripled since attacks by Islamic militants in Paris in November and shootings by Muslim extremists in San Bernardino, California, in December. About 80 percent of the victims in such incidents are women, CAIR officials say. "There really is a need for Muslim women to protect themselves in this society," said CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper.
  • CAIR-Ohio: Muslims Deal With Backlash From Those Who Perpetuate Violence
    
    "People tend to generalize and start attributing that to all Muslims, and that results in innocent Muslims facing backlash," said Romin Iqbal, staff attorney for the Columbus chapter of the Council for American-Islamic Relations. "That is a problem that we have been seeing for a very long time."
• Standing with Muslims, Faith Groups Buy Banners
  
• CAIR: Muslim Group Asks Bedke to Block Idaho Anti-Islam Bill
  
  William Burgess, senior staff attorney for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, wrote Bedke on Tuesday that laws that do not have "a genuine and primary secular purpose" are unconstitutional, and that Redman's bill doesn't have one. . .
  
  Burgess wrote that the legislation is based on model legislation developed by the American Public Policy Alliance, which is affiliated with David Yerushalmi, the driving force behind the anti-Shariah movement in the U.S. and whom Burgess describes as "an infamous anti-Islam activist."
• CAIR: In the Face of Rising Islamophobia, What's it Like to Be Muslim in Appalachia? (Audio)
  
  Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesperson with the Council on American Islamic Relations, who talks about what his group thinks may help reduce the number of threats and harassment of Muslims in America.
  • Muslims Sue Over Denial of Bid to Build Mosque in New Jersey Suburb (NY Times)

• Video: CAIR-Alabama Director Joins Public Forum on Challenging Islamophobia

MEDIA ADVISORY

CAIR, Muslim Leaders to Demand that Donald Trump Apologize for 'Islam Hates Us' Claim

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 3/10/16) � Later today, representatives of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) will join other leaders of the American Muslim community at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to demand that leading GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump apologize for his latest Islamophobic claim that "Islam hates us."

The American Muslim leaders will outline how Trump's Islamophobic rhetoric, and that of other Republican officials, is to blame at least in part for the recent unprecedented spike in anti-Muslim hate incidents nationwide.

WHAT: American Muslim Leaders to Demand that Donald Trump Apologize for 'Islam Hates Us' Claim
WHEN: Thursday, March 10, 4 p.m.
WHERE: CAIR's Capitol Hill Headquarters, 453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E., Washington, D.C.
CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, [email protected]

NOTE: CAIR's news conference will be streamed live at: https://www.facebook.com/CAIRNational/

Last night, Trump told CNN's Anderson Cooper: "I think Islam hates us." "We have to get to the bottom of it," Trump said. "There is an unbelievable hatred of us � anybody."

Donald Trump: 'Islam Hates Us' (Yahoo News)

On MSNBC this morning, Florida Governor Rick Scott refused to answer the question of whether "Islam hates us."

Video: Fla. Governor Rick Scott Refuses to Answer Question on Donald Trump's 'Islam Hates Us' Claim

"Donald Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric does not reflect leadership, but instead reflects a bigoted mindset that only serves to divide our nation and the world," said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. "He should apologize to the Muslims serving in our nation's armed forces, to the Muslim doctors who provide health care to millions of Americans, to the Muslim law enforcement officers who keep communities safe, to the Muslim women targeted by hate because of their attire, and to the Muslim students who face bullying because of their faith."

Awad suggested that Trump take the opportunity of tonight's GOP presidential debate to offer his apology.

CAIR has previously stated that Trump's Islamophobia "places the millions of innocent, law-abiding citizens in the American Muslim community at risk."

SEE: CAIR Says Trump's 'Pig's Blood' Remarks Endanger U.S. Muslims

The Washington-based civil rights organization reports that the spike in anti-Muslim incidents nationwide has been occurring since the Paris terror attacks, the San Bernardino shootings and Donald Trump's bigoted call for a complete ban on Muslims entering the United States.

CAIR noted that a media report today of a "Muslim Free Zone" sign put up by a Vermont homeowner is just one example of the hate inspired by the Islamophobic rhetoric used by Trump and other public figures.

CAIR: 'Muslim Free' Sign Draws Concern

CAIR also cited the almost-daily anti-Muslim incidents such as an arson threat to a Kentucky mosque, a bomb threat targeting an Islamic school in Ohio, armed threats to a Muslim family in Missouri, an assault on Muslim women riding a train in New Jersey, an attack on a Buddhist monk in Washington state who was mistaken for a Muslim, the desecration of a Sikh temple in that same state because the vandal believed it was a mosque, arson attacks on California mosques, an assault on Muslim teens in New York, Muslim women thrown off flight for "staring," bigoted opposition to the construction of mosques, and the firing of Muslim workers seeking religious accommodations in Colorado and Wisconsin.

Last month, CAIR's Dallas/Fort Worth chapter welcomed the arrest of a man who allegedly carried out a deadly shooting attack in which he reportedly targeted his victims because he believed they were Muslim.

CAIR recently released a report on more than 70 incidents targeting American mosques and religious institutions in 2015 that showed a greater frequency of damage, destruction, vandalism, and intimidation than in any other year since CAIR started tracking such cases in 2009.

Examples of the mainstreaming of Islamophobic sentiments such as an anti-Muslim lawn display in Illinois, the introduction of an anti-Islam bill in Idaho (and in many other states) and the proliferation of "Muslim-free" businesses.

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

• V ideo: More Muslim Workers Fired by Ariens Plant in Wisconsin (CAIR)
  • CAIR: Somali Workers in Colorado File EEOC Complaint Against Cargill
    
    There have been religious discrimination complaints filed with the EEOC on behalf of "many" Muslims who worked at the Fort Morgan plant, said Jenifer Wicks, litigation director for CAIR, a Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization that is representing former Cargill employees. Wicks on Tuesday didn't have an exact number of how many EEOC complaints had been filed. A Denver law firm that specializes in workplace and civil rights issues filed the EEOC complaints along with CAIR.
• CAIR: Islamic Group Asks Idaho Legislature to Stop Anti-Islam Bill
  
  
• NJ: Muslim Women Say No One Intervened When Man Attacked Them
  
  A man allegedly spat at a group of Muslim female college students last week while aboard a New Jersey train, and addressed them with racial and gendered slurs. The women said no one on the train came to their defense.
  • Buddhist Monk,Apparently Mistaken as Muslim, Attacked in Washington State
    
    "I pulled over, someone ran up and yelled. I turned around, they kicked the door, hit me in the side of the face and knocked my head into the frame of the car," Sampson said. "I do remember [him yelling] an F bomb [about] Muslims, and that was it."
  • Illinois Teenager Receives Probation and Community Service for Beating of Sikh Driver
    
    Inderjit Mukker of Darien said he was driving on Cass Avenue near 69th Street when the teenager tried to force him out of his lane and called him names such as Bin Laden and terrorist.
  • NJ Muslim Community Center Opposition Still Strong - Opponents Contact Homeland Security
• Video: Did CAIR Inspire Netflix's 'House of Cards' to Challenge Islamophobia?
  • CAIR-FL: Facts About Muslim Faith Ignored as Fear-Mongering, Fabrications Spread
  • CAIR-WA: Washington Muslims Receive Media Training Against Backdrop of Rising Discrimination
    
    In response to hate rallies, an influx of refugees, and the Paris terror attacks in November 2015, key members of Seattle's Muslim community are receiving training on how to effectively communicate Muslim issues to lawmakers and the media.
    
    It's a push by the Council of American-Islamic Relations�Washington State (CAIR-WA) to tell stories in a compelling way and show new perspectives from the Muslim community.
• CAIR: Yearn for Bern is Strong Among Young Muslims
  
  Sanders' message has resonated among young Muslims in particular, as shown by the poll touted last week by the Council for American-Islamic Relations.
  
  After polling nearly 2,000 Muslim voters, CAIR found that 78 percent of Muslims between the ages of 18 and 24 favored Sanders, more than three and a half times the number favoring former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CAIR Joins 326 Civil Rights, Immigration, Community Groups to Urge Supreme Court Approval of Immigration Relief Programs
Amicus Brief features profiles of families whose lives would improve if immigration programs were approved

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 3/9/16) � The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today joined a diverse coalition of 326 immigration, civil rights, labor, and social service groups in filing an amicus ("friend of the court") brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. Texas, urging the court to lift the injunction that blocked President Obama's executive action on immigration that he announced in November of 2014.

The Obama administration's expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, as well as a new Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) initiative, was blocked by a federal district court in Texas. That court's order was subsequently upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The lawsuit against the president's executive actions was brought by 26 states. Late last year the federal government appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In the brief, the groups outline how families and communities would benefit from the blocked initiatives. The brief provides examples of parents and individuals who would be able to contribute more fully to their communities if the immigration initiatives were allowed to take effect.

Civil rights groups argued in the brief filed:

"If the injunction is lifted, many families will be more secure, without the looming threat that loved ones will be deported at a moment's notice. Many deserving individuals will also have access to better jobs and the ability to improve their lives, the lives of their families, and their communities. DHS has discretion to grant or deny applications for the initiatives at issue, and the concocted argument to the contrary should not be used to prevent individuals from even applying."

"The amicus brief illustrates the myriad ways in which prospective beneficiaries of DAPA and expanded DACA would contribute to our country. The Administration's initiatives constitute a lawful exercise of executive discretion and should be upheld," said CAIR Civil Rights Department Litigation Director Jenifer Wicks.

Advocates note that the U.S. Supreme Court should not be used to settle a political debate, with anti-immigrant activists trying to push through the courts what they haven't been able to accomplish through the political process.

The full legal brief.

An interactive timeline outlining the process for review of the case.

For more background on the legal challenges to executive action on immigration.

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

• Breaking: CAIR-Houston Holds News Conference with Family of Now-Comatose Muslim Whose Medical Treatment was Delayed by Sheriff's Officers
  
  The Houston office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Houston) today held a news conference with the family of a Muslim man now on life support after allegedly having his medical treatment delayed - reportedly for almost an hour - by officers of the Harris County Sheriff's Office.
  
  CONTACT: CAIR-Houston Executive Director Mustafaa Carroll, 713-838-2247 (office), 832-549-1042 (cell), [email protected]
• CAIR: Colorado Muslim Workers Accuse Cargill of Federal Employment Discrimination (Denver Post)
  
  Lawyers for about 130 Cargill workers involved in a workplace prayer dispute at a Fort Morgan meatpacking plant have filed EEOC complaints accusing the agribusiness giant of religious discrimination.
  
  The Council on American-Islamic Relations and Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC, a Denver law firm that specializes in civil rights and employment law, filed the complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging violations of federal employment discrimination law, CAIR confirmed Monday.
• CAIR: Donald Trump's Nightmare Voter - Muslim and Latino!
  
  As a Muslim and Latino, I'm being used by Trump as a political prop," Wilfredo Ruiz, a United States military veteran and currently communication director for the Florida chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, told me Sunday. Ruiz added that "Trump has taken anti-Muslim and anti-Latino hate to a new alarming level and has sadly been rewarded for it with free media coverage as well a spike in voter support and even campaign contributions."
  • CAIR-MI: Trump Rants Terrorize U.S. Muslim Capital
  • CAIR-MI: In Largest Arab Community in US, Political Resolve Mixes with Dread (Boston Globe)
• How AIPAC Mainstreams Anti-Muslim Hate
• Audio: New CAIR-Georgia Director Interviewed
  
  The new state executive director of the Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Edward Amed Mitchell, talks about CAIR's work in Georgia.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CAIR Asks Idaho Legislature to Drop Unconstitutional Anti-Islam Bill

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 3/8/16) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on the Idaho House of Representatives to drop an unconstitutional, anti-Islam bill (House Bill 568) currently moving through that body because it violates the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

CAIR said the bill was recently introduced and approved by the House Ways and Means Committee by a vote of 4-3 and has been referred to the State Affairs Committee.

CAIR: Shariah Fears Cited Over Bill Banning Foreign Law
Local Muslims Cautious About New Idaho Anti-Shariah Bill

Of the bill, one Idaho newspaper noted: "We knew it was only a matter of time before the radical right surfaced in the Statehouse this year pushing legislation to target Muslims. It happened Wednesday, through a proposal to ban any enforcement of foreign law by an Idaho court."

SEE: Idaho Newspaper Slams Anti-Islam Bill

In a letter sent today to Speaker of the Idaho House of Representatives Scott Bedke, CAIR Senior Staff Attorney William Burgess wrote in part:

"In analyzing legislation under the Establishment Clause, courts consider the 'contemporaneous legislative history' and 'the specific sequence of events leading to passage of the statute' to determine whether it was passed with an 'improper purpose.' Laws which do not have a genuine and primary secular purpose are unconstitutional. It is not a valid secular purpose to pass a law intended to target a particular religion for disfavor.

"In this case, Mr. Redman, as the sponsor of the bill, admitted that, while the 'bill isn't just about sharia law. . .sharia law is a major concern.' He included 'pictures of a severed hand and a man about to be beheaded. . .in the information packet [he] distributed to legislative leaders considering the proposal,' with the pictures 'pasted in between definitions of Shariah law' and statements disparaging the Prophet Muhammad. . .

"The bill 'follows model legislation developed by the American Public Policy Alliance." APPA is affiliated with David Yerushalmi, an infamous anti-Islam activist. . .Yerushalmi's writings contain a manifest bias against Islam, including statements such as 'Our greatest enemy today is Islam,' 'Islam seeks our destruction,' and the 'Muslim civilization is at war with Judeo-Christian civilization.'

"It is clear from its legislative history that H.B. 568 is motivated by anti-Islam animus. Its passage would send a message that Islam is an officially disfavored religion in Idaho. Legislation passed with the intent to attack a particular religion is a violation of the Establishment Clause, which requires that government remain neutral in matters of religion. This unconstitutional bill should be withdrawn."

House Bill 568 is one of many so-called "foreign law" bills introduced in state legislatures nationwide in a coordinated campaign to demonize Islam and to marginalize American Muslims. That Islamophobic campaign appears to be stalling in most states.

SEE: Anti-Islam Bills Introduced Nationwide

In 2011, the American Bar Association (ABA) passed a resolution opposing legislation like House Bill 568, noting that it is "duplicative of safeguards that are already enshrined in federal and state law," saying, "Initiatives that target an entire religion or stigmatize an entire religious community, such as those explicitly aimed at 'Sharia law,' are inconsistent with some of the core principles and ideals of American jurisprudence."

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.  

***

CONTACT: CAIR Government Affairs Manager Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, [email protected];

CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, [email protected];

CAIR Communications Coordinator Nabeelah Naeem, 202-341-4171, [email protected]

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding. www.cair.com

Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Ave, S.E., Washington, D.C., 20003

Opinions expressed in various sections are the sole responsibility of their authors and they may not represent Al-Jazeerah & ccun.org.

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